First Encounter
by GoddessofSnark
Summary: The first meeting between Norrington and Sparrow in the Amor del un Hermano series
1. Chapter 1

A/N Part 3 of the Amor del un Hermano universe/series. Takes place after "The One He Looked Up To" but before the original piece.  
  
Disclaimer: Don't own them, King Mickey does, but as he's gone off to fight the heartless, I get to romp around in his universe, and steal the sexy pirates that he's left there. Yum!  
  
Captain James Norrington's first encounter with Jack Sparrow was not a good one. The legendary pirate ship had the HMS Wolfram caught in irons, blocking off the ships only way to turn into the wind. Sparrow stepped on board the splendid frigate with a broad grin on his face, his sword and pistol drawn. Sparrow had a presence about him that all the men on board of the Wolfram could not help but notice, and they all turned to watch the exchange between their captain and the infamous pirate.  
  
"Ah, my dear captain, it's my pleasure to finally meet the man who's been dubbed the great pirate hunter of the ocean sea." Sparrow extended his hand for the other man to shake, but the elegant captain steadfastly refused.  
  
"Mr. Sparrow." Was all he replied with, nearly spitting the title at the other man.  
  
"Captain, if you please."  
  
"Captain Sparrow, you do realize how foolish your stepping on board this ship is, do you not?"  
  
"Of course I do luv, but you can't do much with me anyway." There was something familiar about the pirate that James couldn't place. Something strikingly familiar.  
  
"Arrest him."  
  
"Ah, no you don't Jimmy. That is your name, isn't it?" The captain paled slightly. He had always hated the nickname, the last person to call him that had been his brother, and even then it was only when he was teasing the younger boy.  
  
"It's James, Captain Norrington to you."  
  
"Ah, yes, Norrington it is then. Well then Norrington, you can't do anything with me."  
  
"And why's that?" Norrington asked, although he knew the reason why.  
  
"Because your sails are luffing, and you have no way to get out of this mess unless I move my ship. And I'm not going to move my ship until we come to an.understanding of sorts." Norrington instantly realized what the pirate wanted.  
  
"I will not let you walk away from this, Sparrow."  
  
"Captain luv, captain."  
  
"You've done nothing to deserve that title."  
  
"Au contraire, mon ami, it takes quite a bit to able to sail a ship as fine as the Pearl."  
  
"What are your terms?" it was more testing the waters than it was to actually grant something. Norrington wouldn't grant the pirate anything.  
  
"Quite simple, really luv," Norrington grimaced at the use of the endearment. "Ye just be letting me and my crew here go free, and we'll be letting you go."  
  
"And if I don't?"  
  
"Then we sit here all night."  
  
"A royal navy ship is vastly out stocked to your humble boat." The officer nearly spat the words out as he looked at the pathetic ship.  
  
"Ah, but are you out armed?"  
  
"Are you challenging me, pirate?"  
  
"Aye, that I be luv." There was fierce determination in the other man's deep brown eyes. They were mesmerizing, and so familiar, they almost seemed to haunt him. he had seen those eyes somewhere before, he was sure of it.  
  
"In that case, arrest the entire ship." The order was soft, yet firm. The men readied to follow through in case their captain was serious, but hesitated, knowing the ploy all to well. Sparrow stopped in front of Norrington, gesturing at him to hold on a minute.  
  
"Not so fast laddie boy. I have another deal to make." Norrington gave an annoyed sigh as he turned to face the man.  
  
"What now, Sparrow?"  
  
"For the third time, it's captain sparrow." Norrington just ignored him this time. "And you take me, but leave my crew." Norrington took a moment to think it over before turning to his first mate, Lieutenant Gillette.  
  
"Gillette, escort this man down to the brig." Gillette moved to grab the pirate by the arm, before Sparrow sidestepped his way in front of Norrington again.  
  
"The men on that ship receive orders from no one but me."  
  
"Then shout them from here."  
  
"It's easier to shout them from the crows nest." Sparrow looked up at the top of the mast. Norrington looked up with him, before he turned his gaze back to the man before him.  
  
"Then I shall escort you to assure that you won't be escaping." The pirate shrugged and started his way up the rigging, Norrington not far behind.  
  
"Ahoy, men!" The pirate shouted from the top of the majestic ship. The figures on the dreaded legendary ship looked up to see their captain waving from the top of the ship they were pinning, the enemy captain standing directly behind. "Go on ahead, seems I'm the guest of this lovely man here." Even from their high perch they could hear the raucous laughter from the pirate ship, and the slight titters from the better disciplined navy.  
  
"Is that all Sparrow?" Norrington asked through gritted teeth.  
  
"What luv, afraid of heights." Norrington looked down especially to prove to the pirate that he wasn't. When he looked back up, he found the pirate to be staring out at the open ocean. "She's beautiful, ain't she?"  
  
While Norrington found this whole scene to be oddly reminiscent of something, he couldn't quite place it. "Yes, it is." Was all he could say in response.  
  
"It's amazing how beautiful she can be. And how temperamental. Treat her kindly, and she treats you kindly, treat her rough, and she treats you rough." Hadn't Norrington heard those same words out of his brothers mouth not so long ago? Hadn't he and his brother stood on the mast of a ship looking out, and commenting on the sea. What had his brother told this dreadful man? The grand officer rounded on the other man with a look of pure hatred in his eyes.  
  
"Down, now." was all he could tell the man. This was the man that had killed his brother. This was the man that captained the ship that sent his brother's to his doom. This was the man that made him join the navy. This was the man that he had sworn to kill to avenge his brother's death. Now was his chance. But looking into those deep soulful eyes, eyes that seemed to haunt him, he had a nagging sense that he shouldn't. that those eyes, that seemed to stand out with how they were rimmed in kohl, that those eyes belonged to someone that he knew, that he shouldn't do what he wanted to do most.  
  
So instead, he lead the man down to the brig, where he fully intended to keep him until the ship safely arrived in Port Royale, where he was now stationed. Where he could hang the man for all the villainous acts that he had committed. To hell with his nagging feeling. 


	2. Chapter 2

Norrington stalked down to the brig, not walk, but stalk. There was something lithe about the way he angrily marched down the slippery wooden stairs into the damp waterlogged cellar that was the brig. Sparrow sat there, despite the ankle high water, and for all intents and purposes appeared to be sound asleep. Norrington watched him for a long minute before splashing the water noisily to make himself known.  
  
"Mr. Sparrow, a word." Sparrow looked up groggily.  
  
"It's Captain luv, Captain."  
  
"You have no boat, you are no captain. And you are a pirate."  
  
"I do have a ship mate, I'm just not on it."  
  
"Right now, you are a prisoner of the Royal Navy."  
  
"Ah, I see how it is James. I see how it is." There was something familiar about the voice as it lost all the accents that it had accumulated and faded into a London one. And as the accent faded, the voice floated to him as if from a memory. "You care about nothing more than duty."  
  
"I do as I am bound." Was all he could say, as he tried to place where he knew that voice from.  
  
"That's right James, always the letter of the law, never the one to do anything reckless, always did as you were told." The more the pirate spoke to him, the more he recognized it. The more he didn't want to recognize it.  
  
"Who are you to speak? You have done nothing but rape pillage plunder and murder."  
  
"Ah that's where you have me wrong James. I never raped or murdered a soul in my life. Couldn't bring myself to." He recognized the voice now, and Sparrow could see the look of shock on the other man's face. A look of shock and a look of denial. "Ah, James, now do you recognize me? I thought you would have sooner."  
  
"It can't be." Was all he could say.  
  
"Ah, but you see luv, it is. It's me here in the flesh mate, and there's nothing you can do about it."  
  
"No. It can't be." He repeated in disbelief. Sparrow looked at him apologetically for a minute, before the soft brown eyes returned to meet his stormy green ones.  
  
"Ah, that was your other downfall, you never believed anything. You were always so skeptical. Except of course about the stories of pirates and how easy it was to slay them on the high seas."  
  
"Those are entirely believable, as you are in one of those stories now."  
  
"Ah, of course, how I forget. My, how the tables have turned." Was all the pirate said before leaning his head back against the bars of the cell. Norrington watched him for a long minute, before the pirate turned his head back to the man standing tall, proud, arrogant just feet away from him. "What are you doing? Are you going to stand there all day, or are you going to let a man get some sleep?" he said irritated. Norrington turned and started to walk off, before he heard the pirates voice in a soft tone he hadn't heard in ages. "James," with that Norrington stopped and turned back around.  
  
"Yes?" he asked brusquely.  
  
"I'm sorry." Was all the other man could say. With that, Norrington walked up the stairs confused, and hurt.  
  
How could this man just come back into his life? The more time he spent around the pirate, the more he knew that this pirate, the man he'd been hunting for so long was in fact the reason why he had been hunting every single pirate. This man, the man he held captive down in the brig, was his brother. As he walked to his cabin, he couldn't help but think of how ironic it was, and how painful it was. It hurt him so much to know that this man was the one that he had been tracking down. That he had been hunting his own brother.  
  
He had to go back down there, he needed to talk to the man more, but he was afraid to. He was afraid of what he would find out about his brother. But he was more afraid of what he'd find out about himself. He didn't want to know that he was the same as this man, as this monster that his brother had become. He wanted to be the fine Captain that he was, not be related to some pirate. This wasn't the brother that he had had. This wasn't the brother that sailed off that one cold morning, never to be seen again.  
  
This was a new man entirely. So what if they were once the same person? He had changed so much that he could no longer be counted as his brother. This was a pirate, and therefore no kin of his. But the more he thought about it, the more it ate at his conscience. This man was his brother, whether he liked it or not. This was his brother, the one that he had admired for so long, and if he didn't want to admit it, that was his problem, but this man was his brother nonetheless.  
  
And he couldn't just forget about their blood, could he? He didn't want to, but he felt a stronger tie to the law to which he was bound. He was a captain of the Royal fleet. He was in charge of everything in the Caribbean. He had to obey the laws, and he couldn't let a man go, a man who not only had smuggling and piracy on his list of offenses, but now, if he was who Norrington believed him to be also had desertation and treason to face.  
  
The man would be hung multiple times over if the law had anything to do with it. But could he bring himself to know that he had sent his own brother to the gallows? This was the man who taught him to love the sea; this was the man who made him do what he did. This was the man who taught him how to follow his own heart, could he send this man to his grave? The more he thought about it, the more he realized that he couldn't. The more he thought about it, the more he remembered everything the man had done for him.  
  
He had been everything he ever wanted, he couldn't send the man to his grave now. he had been the best brother any boy could wish for. Norrington looked at the tricorner hat that sat proudly on his desk, all old and battered, but it was still his, a gift from the man that now sat in the icy waters of the brig, along with the rats and whatever vermin decided to make that their home. He couldn't send that man to the gallows. With more resolve, he got up from his cabin, and walked back down to the brig, this time, an air of empathy about him, empathy for the man that he once loved. 


	3. Chapter 3

He found the Pirate sitting there, as he was before still sound asleep. He knew he had to stop thinking of the man as a pirate, but he couldn't bring himself to think of the man as his brother, not after all that had happened with them. Norrington needed something to think of the man currently stowed in the brig as because there was nothing to call him. He wasn't his brother, not anymore, but yet the man at the same time could no longer be thought of as a pirate, this man was his brother, not a murderer  
  
At the same time, this man had broken so many laws. This man was a pirate, there was no doubt about that, not only a pirate, but a legendary one, a pirate captain. This man was against everything that he was, this man was almost evil incarnate. Only he wasn't evil, he was only a criminal. He thought laws below him, but he wasn't a bad man. He said it himself, he never raped a woman, he never murdered anyone.  
  
Norrington rapped loudly on the iron bars causing them to rattle even louder in the dark damn room. Sparrow jumped in fright and looked up at the other man. "Don't do that to a man, unless you want to find yourself suddenly rolling around in pain." the other man said angrily and groggily. "What do you want now?"  
  
"How did you come to become captain of the Black Pearl?"  
  
"Ah, quite simple really. I was taken hostage, and when it became clear no one was coming after me, I gave in and Pirates are a much cheerier crew than you uptight navy folks." There was a small smirk on his face as he said that, and Norrington glared at him.  
  
"Why didn't you send word or anything?" Norrington asked him quietly.  
  
"Think about it luv, would you want to send word that you're quite alright, but you're a pirate?" Norrington gave it a moment's thought before nodding his head, seeing the other man's point.  
  
"Why a pirate?"  
  
"The same reason you're here, on a ship. It's in our blood. Our father was a pirate, I'm a pirate, if it wasn't that you were so damn obsessed with the rules, you'd make a good pirate." Norrington felt the pit of his stomach drop at this.  
  
His father was not a pirate. This man was not his brother. This man, was a liar, a pirate, this man wanted nothing more than to see him squirm. He would not give the pirate the satisfaction of seeing this though. He turned around to leave, when the pirate spoke again. "Face it mate, you've got pirate blood in you. You don't have to do anything with it, but accept that fact."  
  
"I'll no sooner be related to a pirate as I would be to the king of England."  
  
"Well you are."  
  
"Then I disown myself." The words were said in a fit of outrage, in a fit of disbelief, but the more that he thought about them the more he considered them. He didn't want to, he loved his mother, and he loved the brother that this man once was. But this man had gone too far. This man was not the young man that he had looked up to.  
  
He even looked so different. When he had been in England, sailing for the Royal navy he had been tan, yes, but not as tan as he was now. Now he was a deep bronze, darker than Norrington had ever seen him before. He supposed it was from spending all of his time in the sun, on a ship rather than just parts of it. James had inherited his mother's pale, gentle complexion and bright green eyes. John on the other hand had inherited their father's dark tan and the soulful brown eyes. The only things that the two seemed to share were their hair and their slender build.  
  
"You sure you wanna do that luv?" The words cut through the man's slight reverie.  
  
"I'm sure." He wasn't and he knew it, but he would show no sign of weakness to the other man.  
  
"Well then, just make sure you don't regret those words later luv. Who knows, I might come in handy sometime." The Pirate was smirking as he said that, the funny little smirk that the man always got when he was toying with someone. He had always had the smirk, even when he was a boy.  
  
"Why would you come in handy?"  
  
"I showed you how to sail a boat didn't I?"  
  
"Something I could learn on my own."  
  
"You still have my sword around your waist." The pirate's eyes ran down to wear the sword sat belted tightly to the officer's waist. "I taught you how to use that thing."  
  
"Again, something I could have learned from someone else." Norrington cursed the other man for toying with him.  
  
"Ah, but could you get such a magnificent sword?" The Pirate was right. There was hardly a better sword out there, and both of them knew it. "And could you get such a comfortable hat?" The Pirate laughed at his little joke and Norrington smiled out of impatience.  
  
"Mr. Sparrow-"  
  
"Captain, please, captain,"  
  
"Sparrow, I refuse to toy with you anymore. You are my prisoner and expect to be tried for your crimes the minute we find a friendly port." Norrington was at the end of his rope at this point, and was willing to do anything to stop the torture that his brother was putting him through.  
  
"Ah, fine then. And you might want to try bailing this place out once in a while, the muck is quite thick." They both looked down, somewhat disgusted at the ankle-deep water. Norrington handed the man a bucket.  
  
"Bail yourself out, that knothole should be big enough." There was a small smirk on the officer's face as he said that, a hint of the man that he used to be.  
  
"And that's the one thing you should be most thankful to me for."  
  
"What? How to bail things out?"  
  
"No mate, your sense of humor. If it was up to you, the world would be one big sea of paperwork." Norrington knew he was right, that if it wasn't for his brother that he would see the world as something drab and boring, his brother was the one that saw the world as something new and exciting. In all the time they had shared together they had balanced each other out. John had made things seem exciting, and James had been there to reel his older brother in.  
  
Norrington turned on his heel and walked out through the thick water, confused about everything, wondering what he should do with the man. 


End file.
